Construction of eyeglasses, spectacles, and the like.



L. GOURLANDER.

CONSTRUCTION OF EYEGLASSES,SPEOTAOLES,AND THE LIKE.

APPLIUATIOH FILED AUG-.5, 1911. 1

1,079,932. Patented De0.2,1913.

v n'mssses HTTY UNITED STATES PATENT oFr'ucE.

LOUIS OOURLANDEB, 0F CROYDON, CONSTRUCTION OF EYEGLASSES, SPECTAGLES, LIKE.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

- Patented Dec-2,, 1913.

Application filed August 5, 1811. Serial No. 842,488. 4

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS CoUR'LANDnR, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at No. 42 North End, Croydon, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Eyeglasses, Spectacles, and the like, of which .the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in means for supporting a lens in juxtaposition to the eye to serve for use in spectacles or pince-nez. Hitherto the lens has been mounted in a removable manner in an inclosing frame the section of which and the periphery of the lens being such as to be adapted to make a secure connection each to the other when a screw or other fastening is employed to draw together and connect the two otherwise unconnected ends of the inclosing frame. Alternatively to supporting the lens in a frame, as above described, the fittings for supporting the lens have been secured to the glass of the lens itself by drilling a hole therein as in the so called frameless glasses.

By the present invention I derive the advantages of lightness and unobservability of the frameless glass and retain the strength and durability of the frame-mounted lens.

According to the present invention I provide a band of very thin metal, which is of such length of circumference as to closely embrace the periphery of the lens, the band, while having considerable strength to resist tension, being so thin and flexible as to conform to the shape of the profile of the lens. The contacting surfaces of the lens and embracing band are such as would be generated by a straight line which, while always remaining perpendicular to the middle plane of the lens, traverses a closed curve. The lens is secured within the band by means of a cementing material. Such a lens protected by being surrounded by a practically invisible rim will possess the unobservability feature of a frameless lens and at the same time will provide means whereby the nose-bridge and ear fittings for supporting the lens can be secured thereto in a simple and strong manner. The methods of efiecting the connection of those fittings to the embracing band may be greatly varied but their essential feature, according to the present invention, is such as to permit any kind or proportion of bridge-piece or other fitting to be secured to an kind or focal length of lens and thus ena le an optician to completely satisfy the requirements of his customers with a Imnimum quantity of stocked elements.

The accompanying drawing shows alternative methods of effecting the connection band and the fittings to be secured thereto.

Figs. 8-11 SllOW methods of making the attachment to a plain band by gripping a portion of the band between two branches of a clamp, and Figs. 12 and 13 show another method of making the attachment by clipping a plain band.

In Fig. 1 the section of the band a is shown as having the shape of a very small segment of a comparatively large circle whereby the edges of the band are reduced to a minimum degree of thickness and visibility. The band is made from a rolled strip of metal which, according to one method of construction, is made endless by takin a suitable length and joining the two ends 1n any of thewell known ways of forming a hoop by soldering or brazin them together with a butt or lap joint. dvantage may be taken of the opportunity of making the joint to braze or otherwise secure to the band a lug a, shown in Fig. 2, consisting of a short length of cylindrical tube, the length being approximately equal to the width of the band. Alternatively, this lug may be independently brazed to the band away from the joint. The bridge-piece 6, shown separately in Figs. 3 and 4 and in dotted lines shown, in Fig. 2, assembled with one band-lug a is so bent as to form the sides of a socket b which surrounds the lug a except the portion which is secured to the band. One end of the socket b is closed by a washer or nut 0 having a screw threaded aperture therein which washer or nut is advantageously brazed or otherwise secured to the socket F. The connection of the bridgepiece to the lug is completed by means of a screw Fig. 5, and this latter is advantageously employed to carry the pivoted nose-contacting element 6. To insure apermanent connection of the band to the lens, the former, when it is a continuous hoop must have an internal periphery of such a length as to exactly correspond'to that of the external periphery of the lens. To facilitate the close embrace without requiring absolute precision of construction the ends of the band may be connected by an expansion joint as shown in Fig. 6 for example, in which the extremities of a U-shaped piece a are brazed to the otherwise unconnected ends of the band, and in such manner provide a lug to fit the socket b Alternatively, as in Fig. 7, the ends'of the band are bent to form hooks and these are inserted within a split ring a The said ring and extremities of the band may be permanently united by soldering or brazing or alternatively the screw (i may be employed to wedge the hooked extremities of the band into firm contact with the split ring when the parts are assembled together, with the split-ring inserted within the socket N.

In Figs. 8 and 9, the band a. which embraces the lens is a plain endless bandwithout the lug a. In this case, prior to cementing the lens within the embrace of the hand, one or two very shallow recesses are formed at the portion f of the periphery of the lens 1 the depth of the recess being just sufficient to receive the thickness of one branch of a clamp g, the other branch, in which is formed a screw-threaded aperture, passing around the outside of the band, which latter is interposed between the two said branches of the clamp g. Prior to inserting the screws h, which draw together the two branches of the clamp, a portion of the bridge-piece b is also inserted between the branches of the clamp 9, being interposed between the band a and the outer branches of the clamp. The nose-contacting element 6 is swivelly mounted on the bridge-piece b in the usual way. The clampg may be permanently secured to the band byassembling it on the band prior to cementing the lens therein.

In Figs. 1 0 and 11 a single clamp g is shown, the thin branch of which may be inserted within the band prior to the insertion of the lens and the cement and wedging action relied on to keep the clamp in place preparatory to securing by the screw 1.

In Fi 12 and 13 an alternative method of clip-plug the bridge fitting to the band a.

is shown. In this case the bridge-piece b is formed with two ears 7: having an intervening space equal to the thickness of the lens at its periphery and the width of the embracin .band a. One of the ears has a plain ori ce and the other a screw-threaded orifice for the reception of a screw m. A notch having been formed in the lens prior to being cemented within the band the screw is inserted through the orifices in the ears and the notch in the lens and the two ears by being drawn together by means of the screw become tightly secured to the band.

When the invention is applied to the construction of spectacles, the ear-fittings are secured to the embracing lens-band in a manner similar to that described for the fastening of the bridge piece.

I claim:

1. For spectacles and the like eye-glasses, a lens and a rim-band composed of thin strip metal which closely embraces the periphery of the lens, the contacting surfaces of the lens and band being cylindrical, such as would be generated by a straight line which traverses a closed curve, the lens and rimband being retained in permanent connection by cement.

2. For spectacles and the like eye-glasses, a lens and a rim-band composed of thin strip metal which closely embraces the periphery of the lens, the contacting surfaces of the lens and band being cylindrical, such as would be generated by a straight line which traverses a closed curve, the lens and rim-band being retained in permanent conmotion by cement, the rim-band being composed of a strip of metal whose edges have a minimum thickness and visibility.

3. For spectacles and the like eye-glasses, a lens, a rim-band composed of thin stripmetal which tightly embraces the periphery of the lens and an expansion joint for slightly adjusting the length of the eriphcry of the band, the contacting surfz ices of the lens and band being cylinders such as would be generated by a straight line which traverses a closed curve.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS COURLANDER.

Witnesses:

CALLIE RUNGER-HEWETT, R. WILLIAMS. 

